Schedule
Trail Mixer | 2 p.m.
A Trail Mixer is a casual, outdoor gathering guided by light conversation starters meant to facilitate meaningful and new community connections! Periodically, a new conversation starter will be proposed, and attendees will be encouraged to "mix it up" and find a new person to chat with. The first Trail Mixers began in 2022 through an intentional collaboration between Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust's Lydia Coburn and Queerly ME's Kyle Warnock. Since then, hundreds of LGBTQIA+ community members have found connection with nature and one another on these seasonal walks across the state.
Mingling time | 3 p.m.
Join us on the Cafe terrace, right next to our Cafe and Kitchen Garden to mingle with new and old friends a like! The Cafe will be serving grab and go food and drinks with an assortment of alcoholic beverages as well. The outdoor Cafe terrace is reserved for QueerlyME folks from 2-5 p.m.
Explore Your Roots | 4 p.m.
We will have pop up programming teaching folks about Horticulture Therapy as well as Queerness in Nature. These are intended to be short pop in programming, so everyone has a chance to hear from both educators.
Learn about Horticulture Therapy and how we put it into action at the Gardens from our staff Horticultural Therapist, Garron Dorr.
Learn about how plants exist outside of binary systems of categorization. Explore how queerness intersects with the natural world using plants found at the Gardens. This station will be led by soon-to-be Master Naturalist Laura Brown.
More on Laura Brown: Laura Brown holds a master’s degree in molecular biotechnology and a bachelor’s degree in biology. She grew up in Maine, where she could often be found exploring vernal pools, wandering forest trails, and examining the intricate structures of ferns and wildflowers. Her lifelong interest in the natural world has led to her current training as a Maine Master Naturalist, a program dedicated to preparing volunteers who enrich nature education across the state. Through this training, Laura is deepening her skills in ecology and environmental education while also supporting the program’s mission to make Maine’s natural spaces inclusive, accessible, and safe for all. Drawing on her scientific background, she is especially interested in the ways queerness manifests in nature, highlighting biological diversity that challenges conventional human ideas of gender and reproduction. In this talk, Laura invites participants to learn how plants exist outside binary systems of categorization and to explore how queerness intersects with the natural world through the plants found at the Botanical Gardens.
